The present invention relates to a measurement arrangement for calibrating ultrasonic shock wave sensors. More particularly, the present invention relates to a lithotripsy measurement arrangement for calibrating ultrasonic shock wave sensors.
In lithotripsy, accurately calibrated sensors are needed to measure the ultrasonic shock waves generated by an ultrasonic shock wave generator and used to break up concretions in the human body. Preferred ultrasonic shock wave sensors are PVDF hydrophones. For calibration, these ultrasonic shock wave sensors can be arranged in a predetermined reference sound field of a piezoceramic reference sound source. Such reference sound sources are, however, limited to a maximum reference shock wave sound pressure of 1 bar. Since shock waves with a sound pressure of 1000 bars are typically used in lithotripsy, the parameters determined during calibration must be extrapolated to a range three orders of magnitude greater. This can lead to relatively large extrapolation errors.